Traveling with the Stars: 'CSI: NY's' Hill Harper

— -- Hill Harper, who plays Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on CSI: NY, heads to Washington, D.C., for the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama. The two were classmates at Harvard Law School and Harper serves on Obama's National Finance Committee. He shares his travel highlights and tips with Kelly Carter for USA TODAY.

Q: Where have you been recently that you liked or were surprised by?

A:This past year I've been all over the country for the Obama campaign. I was in Virginia (on Nov. 2) about to speak at a rally in Charles City, and on my way there stopped and visited one of the plantations. I had a really amazing, kind of cathartic experience as far as the resonance of campaigning for the first African-American president, connected to the fact that the plantation where we happened to stop was John Tyler's, who was the 10th president of the United States. It's almost like you could feel the ancestors, the slaves who had worked so very hard on that plantation for hundreds of years and created wealth for so many individuals who went on to these positions of powers. To be in a position of campaigning for (an African-American) candidate, it was a pretty incredible thing.

Q:What's the best place you've ever visited and why?

A:The most impactful place that I've been to where I was just completely awestruck, happy, moved is Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is probably the most beautiful and romantic place in the world. I wasn't there with anyone significant but I would absolutely go back with my future wife. I was just blown away by the sheer majesty and awesome strength of these falls and what they represent. And then I went white-water rafting below it down the Zambezi and had a wonderful experience. I love being athletic and doing things that are active, even when I'm traveling.

Q: What's the most surprising/unexpected place you're ever visited and why?

A:The John Tyler plantation. I was not thinking about plantations at all. I was thinking about the election that was happening in the next couple of days and what were we going to do to make sure that folks in Virginia really turned out and voted. That was really surprising.